Description

BOURNMOOR LAMBTON PARK
NZ 35 SW
5/9 Inset
Biddick Hall
1/2/67 (previously included
in the Civil Parish
of South Biddick)
GV I

Small country house. Early C18 incorporating an older structure; east bay
added 1859 (dated rainwater-head); north wing and additions on rear of east
bay 1954-5 by E.M. Lawson and Partners. Main block influenced by and possibly
based on a sketch by Sir John Vanbrugh who worked at Lumley Castle (q.v.) in
1721. Light-red hand-made brick in Flemish bond with painted stone dressings;
roofs not visible; stone chimneys. Matching later additions in stretcher bond.
Main block double-pile plan with massive spine wall. Baroque style.

2-storey main block; symmetrical 5-bay entrance front with added east bay.
Dressed stone plinth and raised quoins. Central replaced doors and 8-pane
overlight in architrave with cornice hood on enriched consoles. Centre bay
framed by giant fluted Ionic pilasters carrying pediment on entablature with
pulvinated frieze. 12-pane sashes in architraves. 2 fluted lead rainwater
heads with downcomers. Tall, panelled flat-coped parapet above band. Stone
vases on parapet and pediment. Corniced ridge stacks. Set-back added bay.
Similar 5-bay west return, without pilasters and pediment, has oeil-de-boeuf
windows on both storeys of centre bay. Split-level, flat-roofed 1954 rear wing.

Interior of main block: Ground-floor west wall and spine wall c.1.5 metres
thick. Narrow entrance hallway has barrel-vaulted ceiling and archway into
staircase hall with Doric pilasters, archivolt and keystone. 2 rooms flanking
lobby: on east with c.1880 Adam-style decoration and C18 chimneypiece by Henry
Cheere; on west with C18 chimneypiece with rams' heads (Lambton insignia).
Small bedroom behind west room with re-used C17 panelling and a corner
chimneypiece. 2-storey staircase hall: 3-flight open-well cantilevered
staircase with c.1780 wrought-iron balustrade and wreathed handrail; panelled
dado with ramped rail; 4- and 6-panel doors in architraves; egg-and-dart
cornice on ground floor; slightly-coved ceiling with arabesques, swags etc.
(possibly c.1745 by La Francini); Venetian window 1960 by Trenwith Wells. 2
first-floor bedrooms: on south-west with dentilled cornice and dado rail; on
south-east with marble fireplace framed by Corinthian pilasters, a modillion
cornice and Chinese wallpaper. Rear wing with re-used internal features, some
from Lambton Castle (q.v.) including first-floor library with early C19 shelves
and a marble chimneypiece with carved decoration of stacked books.

(Christopher Hussey, "Biddick Hall - Durham", Country Life Volume CXXXIX, 1966).

Listing NGR: NZ3145352792

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Biddick Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4904048

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper